Whenever we think of screen capture the first thing that comes to our mind is the PrntScr button. But one thing we all will agree that PrntScr is just a basic mode of screen capture. For more advanced captures we need specialized tools that can handle the job easily and efficiently. Another drawback of using PrntScr is it doesn’t have any integrated image editors. So if you need to edit your capture then you must have a separate image editor installed or else you cannot edit the image you just captured.

To make our screen capturing experience better and to eliminate these problems, nowadays we get many such advanced capturing tools. Few of them are quite well known and I am sure many of you are using such tools also. But the problem with these kind of standalone applications is they are sometimes quite heavy on system resource and are bundled with many features and functions which you may never use. With so many unnecessary features and functions it looks complicated for a general user and they find tough to use it.

But, today I will show you one very interesting screen capture tool. I called it interesting because it is not a windows application, infact it is a browser extension. It is called FireShot. FireShot is available for all the popular browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Seamonkey and Thunderbird) and it can capture, edit, annotate, organize, export, upload and print screenshot form any webpage.

FireShot: Description and Features

FireShot is a browser extension that can not only capture screenshots from any web pages but also edit those. Along with editing it can also print, upload, export and annotate the screen captures. FireShot is available for all the popular browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome etc.

FireShot comes in two flavors- FireShot and FireShot Pro. While FireShot itself is good enough for general users but the Pro version adds even more interesting and useful features. Later on this article I will discuss more about the difference between the two and look closely on the features of the Pro version.

Now let us have a closer look on FireShot- its features and how it works.
Currently FireShot don’t have any universal installer so just select the browser in which you want FireShot to be installed and it will immediately start installing. The installation isn’t much complicated and is same as installing any other browser extensions. Once installation completes you will see a big red “S” icon on your browser.

Whenever you want to capture any web page you just need to click on that “S” icon and you will see a dropdown menu with few capturing options. FireShot has the option to capture the entire web page, only the visible part or any selected section or the whole browser window.
Once you select the option you currently need you will see another list that suggest you what to do with the captured image. You can save it, edit it, upload it, email it, print it, copy it etc. FireShot is very flexible and it gives you a whole lot of options to do with your captured image.

The above screenshot shows the FireShot image editor. The image editor is filled with features to enhance your capture. Along with basic drawing tools it also has few options like upload, mail, export etc. The upload options helps to directly upload to free image hosting servers like ImageShack, Picasa, Flickr etc. It can also directly upload to your Facebook account. The mail option create email messages with the capture while the export feature exports the captured image to any other third part editors installed on the system.
The positives of this image editor are it is extremely light on resource and has got no unnecessary features to confuse the user. It is extremely easy to use and has got the precise tools that are required in an image editor.

With that being said, now I hope I have given you guys a fair reflection of what FireShot actually is and how exactly it works. Before concluding this article, as promised earlier, I would like to let you know the extra features that you’ll get on the Pro version of FireShot.

The Pro version of FireShot will cost you around $34.95 USD and it will be a one-time fee. The advanced features which you’ll get on FireShot Pro are:

Multi-editor interface.

Uploading to Flickr, Google Picasa, ImageShack, EasyCaptures.

Easily customized uploads to FTP and HTTP servers.

Organizing files into projects.

Saving and Loading graphic files.

Unlimited Undo.

Work with clipboard.

Printing.

Custom bitmaps for watermarking.

Verdict

In this article I just presented the basic work flow of FireShot Pro. It is extremely easy to use and every user, from novice to expert, will find it quite useful. FireShot is extremely light weight extension and it won’t affect your browsing experience at all. It has all the features and function that are required during screen captures and all of it works quite accurately without any fail.

There can be few people, who are using windows application for capturing screenshots, can complain about fewer features but then again we shouldn’t forget that it is a light weight browser extension. Another thing we must remember that this is a browser extension, so it can capture anything and everything that can be seen on the browser, outside you browser it will not work.

FireShot don’t have any universal installer. So if you want to try it on more than one browser then you need to install it separately on each of them. I have already requested the developer to build a universal installer.

I have been using FireShot Pro for quite some time now and honestly I find it quite useful for me. I really enjoyed using it and it makes screen capturing much easier for me. It has all the features that you need for screen captures. So if you are someone who captures screenshots from web pages frequently then this tool is a must have for you. I would request you all to try it and I am sure you will not be disappointed.

This would certainly be a very useful study aid for me, to help capture information in visual form and when used alongside a note taking application and database i would have another indispensible tool to continue with my dissertation.

This tools is very helpful for creating documents and very helpful in QA process as well. Whenever you find an problem or different behaviour of you app, you could make a screenshot of that and explain your problem immediately. There is not much application/plugin providing this option.